


sleepy beauty

by onthighsbelongtotaemin



Category: SHINee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, F/M, Fairy Tale Elements, Humor, Revisionist Fairy Tale, Sleeping Beauty Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2016-12-11
Packaged: 2018-09-07 22:16:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8818222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onthighsbelongtotaemin/pseuds/onthighsbelongtotaemin
Summary: "gwiboon wasn’t sure how long she’d been asleep, but judging by the snow drifting outside her window she’d guess it had been at least a few months: the last thing she remembered it was still autumn.  specifically, her birthday."





	

gwiboon wasn’t sure how long she’d been asleep, but judging by the snow drifting outside her window she’d guess it had been at least a few months: the last thing she remembered it was still autumn.  specifically, her birthday.

gwiboon sighed.  her birthday.  as she lay there fragments of a memory came back to her.  something about a thimble & a curse…she shook her head, still a little too sleepy to muddle it all out now.  

“um, hi,” came a voice from her right.  looking over she saw a man in brown tunic, black pants, & brown boots, a heavy green cape draped over his shoulders.  he wore a pained smile on his face, like he didn’t want to be here but was being forced to.  that curse again, what was it?  something about a prince & true love &…gwiboon’s brain was still a little fuzzy.  

“hi,” she responded, her voice barely a croak.  seriously, how long had she been asleep?!  

“here, drink this,” the man said as he hastily poured a drink from a canteen, presenting her with a cup of hot tea.  she sat up & took it gratefully, smiling in thanks as she sipped the contents, her slurps embarrassingly loud in the increasingly uncomfortable silence.  when she finished she flashed him another smile, handing back her cup, & asked him for his name.  

“oh, of course.  sir jinki of the family lee.”  

“sir jinki i’m princess gwiboon of the…”  

“oh i know,” he interjected, earning a glare from gwiboon that went unnoticed.  “princess gwiboon of the family kim.  “you’ve been under a terrible curse since your sixteenth birthday.  quite the birthday gift right?”  he laughed to himself, his eyes crinkling with mirth, not catching the narrowing glare from the lady in the bed.  

suddenly it all came rushing back; the spindle, the curse, the remedy…  gwiboon jumped up from the bed, her eyes wide as she remembered one vital detail.  she poked sir jinki’s chest as she cried “wait.  i’m supposed to be awakened by a kiss.  did you kiss me?”  

“whoa!  absolutely not!” he cried, stepping back as he waved his hands defensively.  “you were asleep!  that’s just…that’s just rude, to kiss a person without their permission.  i just kind of…jostled you.”  

gwiboon leaned back, narrowing her gaze.  “jostled me?”  

“yeah, you know.  i shook your shoulder a little & asked you to wake up.”  

was he serious?  “you asked me to wake up?”  upon seeing the look of incredulity on gwiboon’s face, he added “i said please.”  if it weren’t for the look of sheepish concern on his face she would be certain that he was just messing with her.  as it was it was a little endearing to see the knight so flustered, & to meet a man who cared more about doing what was right than following a stupid curse.  so she smiled again, amused at how relieved he seemed to be at the change in her demeanor.  

“so how long was i asleep?”  

“a few months.  it’s december now.”  

gwiboon chuckled in relief.  “well that’s better than the hundred years that old witch was threatening.”  another thought flitted through her mind.  “i thought it was supposed to be a prince that woke me up.  though I guess if it didn’t have to be a kiss it didn’t have to be a prince.”  

“oh I’m a prince,” jinki said, wringing his hands, “didn’t i mention that?”  

gwiboon narrowed her gaze again.  “no.  you said you were a knight.”  

“ah yeah, well…”  he looked away, blushing, his hand rubbing against the nape of his neck.  “technically i’m both.  just, you know, second son.  not much to do.”  

“so you became a knight?”  

he turned back to her, eyes bright with excitement.  “sure!  the chance to travel, the comradery, the adventure.  the extreme distance between myself & my father…”  

gwiboon nods with understanding.  there was a reason she had wandered out of her guardians’ care & ended up pricked by a cursed spindle.  “i never knew my parents.  i was raised by three faeries.”  

jinki grows confused at the statement & opens & closes his mouth twice before he says, “i can’t tell if you’re being literal or…”  

gwiboon laughs.  “literal.  actual faeries.  magic & potions, the whole deal.”  

“wow.  that sounds incredible.”  

gwiboon nods, a faint smile on her lips.  “yeah it was.  i just…it would have been nice to have known my parents.  i guess i’ll get to meet them now, but it would have been nice to have grown up with them.”  

it’s jinki’s turn to nod & they stand there in silence each thinking about their own parents & what could have been.  

suddenly gwiboon pounds her fist into her hand, startling jinki who nearly falls over.  “also, who curses a birthday?  i mean, i get being mad at not being invited to a royal celebration, but who curses a baby?  and on their birthday?!  especially a 16th!  i didn’t even get to have a party before the whole spindle thing.  birthdays suck,” gwiboon huffs, crossing her arms tightly & glowering at the floor.  

jinki reaches out his hand, hesitates, & then pats her gently on the shoulder before dropping his hand back to his side.  gwiboon feels tears prick at her eyes & she’d really like a hug right now but just before she asks the knight for one he starts chuckling & she shifts her glare to him.  

“why are you laughing?” she cries, indignant.  

“i can see why you’d hate birthdays, & you’re right that yours have, if you’ll forgive the pun, royally sucked,”  gwiboon rolls her eyes & hopes that the flush she feels doesn’t show on her cheeks.  she really needs to be careful around this knight, his awkward charms are working their own magic.  “it’s just that i’m having a really good day, & i like to think you are too, waking up & all & here we are talking about birthdays.  funny thing is, it’s my birthday today.”  

gwiboon stares at him a moment & the bright smile on his face.  “so i’m like your present?”  

jinki chuckles.  “waking you up was my present, being the knight who helps the princess.  that’s a pretty great birthday, wouldn’t you agree?”  

gwiboon smiles softly & nods.  waking up has been pretty great & she’s so far she’s glad it was jinki who helped wake her.  curiously she asks, “how did you find me?”  

“well it’s kind of funny.  my friends & i were out hunting & my friend minho was telling us about a cursed princess.  my other friend jonghyun said he didn’t believe it was real but i had heard the same stories & we were sort of arguing about it when my brother shouted that he’d found the castle.  it was pretty obvious that it was the right one, literally everyone is asleep out there.  then taemin dared me to go inside & i’m not one to back down from a challenge.  so then i found you & shoved you & asked you to wake up.  you did & so here we are.”  suddenly his brow furrowed.  “i wonder if they’re still waiting outside…”  

“it was that easy?  no dragons, no monsters guarding?”  

jinki shook his head.  “no, nothing.”  

gwiboon nodded.  “so if i’m awake probably everyone else is too.”  

“oh yeah, that’s probably true.”  

gwiboon kept nodding, walking toward the window, looking out at the snow.  there were a lot of options available to her right now, many choices.  she could stay & meet the parents she never knew, the ones whose oversight caused her to be cursed nearly at birth.  she could become a princess, marry a prince & become a queen.  she could live the rest of her life draped in regalia & stagnant luxury.  or…   “may i ask another favor sir jinki?”  

“um, sure…princess gwiboon.”  jinki watched her curiously as she stared out the glass pane.  

“would you take me with you?”  

“take you…where?”  

“just with you.  i too would like adventure & comradery.”  

“are you sure?  i mean, you just woke up from a pretty intense cursing & you finally have your life back.”  

gwiboon turned around, leaning against the wall, watching jinki.  he seemed genuinely confused.  “my life hasn’t been my own since the day i was cursed.  i never knew my parents, i lived in the woods with three…"eccentric” women, & i always had to hide who i was.  i’m not a second son but i know what it’s like to not have any purpose in life & i want a purpose.  i can ride, i can build fires, i lived in the woods, i know how to take care of myself.  please, i won’t be burden.”  

jinki watched her carefully, listening to her words.  slowly he smiled, the most brilliant smile gwiboon had ever seen & she felt her heart skip a beat; if she wasn’t careful she could see herself falling in love with him.  as it was they ransacked the closet of her little room, finding trousers & a heavy coat.  once she was warmly dressed the two slipped out the back to where jinki’s friends waited for him, whooping when they saw their friend return with gwiboon.  he jumped back on his horse, helping gwiboon on behind, & they dashed off in the falling snow, living happily ever after.

well…sort of.

“what are you wearing?  no, jinki no.  that is so…that is…no.  i did not live for sixteen years hidden away in the woods with three bickering faeries for you to be walking around, in public, dressed like that.”  

the end


End file.
